Tony from WV was interested in paddling Sparkleberry Swamp again. I said I would join him and see if some of the folks I enjoy paddling with would like to join us. All had paddled the swamp before. We had 5 total paddling on Wednesday and 4 on Thursday. We camped at Pointset State Park 3 nights and Tony stayed 4 paddling on Tuesday when the rest of us arrived.
Sparkleberry is a shrub that grows in the sand country and high ground surrounding the swamp. It blooms in June and bees make a dark bakery grade honey from it. Water Tupelo makes a superior tasting clear honey in early spring. Water tupelo and bald cypress trees predominate but others are also present on dry land.
Tony wanted to explore areas he hadn't paddled as did the rest of us. Lisa used the free version of Avenza Maps a mapping APP and a full version of the hand drawn map from 1973. We have used the "duck hunters map" to help us orient ourselves in the past. We wanted to over lay our GPS tracks directly to this map layered over a satellite photo for a comparison of the GPS tracks we generated while paddling. What follows are photos and maps of two separate day trips to explore new to us routes in the swamp.
DAY ONE MAP 8.5-mile track.
We failed to find any remnant of Old Sparkleberry Landing. Started to go up mill creek but decided to look for the entrance to Crosscut Creek which we found. However, we seem to have another way up to Moe's Lake where we had to deal with shallow water and had to make several attempts to find deeper water. Our destination was the Santee River which is where we stopped for lunch. We also found a different route than on the map back to the creek connecting Otter's Flat (the T 2/3 the way up the left edge) back to camp.
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An early morning start
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At the kayak landing.
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Four kayaks crossing Sparkleberry Flat
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A kettle (not flock) of anhinga. I thought it was a gulp of cormorants until I saw the photos.
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Crosscut Cut Creek.
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Bird watchers.
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Prothonotary warblers could be heard more often than seen.
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DAY TWO MAP 12.5 mile track.
The track from the landing to the top of Jones Flat is well traveled. We initially headed up what proved to be a dead end but found another hunt/fish camp at the red drop pin. We ate lunch and backed tracked to where we picked up a branch that led us up Cypress Gut to Coopers Corner area at the top of the map. This area had no easily identifiable gut or creek to follow. This situation is common on many of the guts and creeks. However, we did locate Fifty Fools Creek and made our way down to Catfish Gut. We somehow got of this gut and cut through about 100 yards of sawgrass then willow (I highly recommend not doing this.) to get back on track to head back to the landing the way we came. We were on the water by 9AM and off at 6PM.
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Tonys waypoints on satellite image.
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Tony in his traveling kayak that takes apart in 6 pieces.
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Hunt/fish Camp.
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A laid-back local a Brown Water Snake.
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Aqua Silva.
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Wow! What an excursion. That's a lot of miles!
Hi Captain Kidd, we regularly do over 10 miles on many of our paddles. The most I have done in my sea kayak in a day is 25 at the coast. We can easily average 3.5 mph. Not in the swamp though as we had to pick our way through the trees many times.
If you use just your arms to paddle they will tire you more quickly. Most of the energy should come from your core by twisting at the waist and driving your foot into the pedal on the side the paddle is in the water not from the arms. You can get into a comfortable rhythm where it feels almost effortless. Even when the boat is loaded for camping and carrying enough water for 3 or 4 days.
Just priced that pakayak - $2g's
Quote from: Captain Kidd on May 12, 2025, 11:10 AMJust priced that pakayak - $2g's
Yes, new boats are expensive. The pakayak is kind of a specialty boat to allow it to fit into hatch backs and vans. It's also a capable recreational class kayak. Not as capable as a sea kayak but good for what is made for. I always shop for used boats. All my boats are used except for the kayak I built from a kit. The most I have paid for a used canoe or kayak is $850 and they were Kevlar light weight boats. Here are two Inuit practicing rolls out in high winds and cold water, and a few shots of me playing in the surf.
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